The situation in India was quite complex. Yu Cen knew he had neither the ability to sort it out clearly nor the time and responsibility to do so, so he raised the question: "At this stage, who are our friends, and who are our enemies?"

Li Runshi also hadn't had time to study India, so he lacked the confidence to answer this question directly. Fortunately, He Rui had given clear instructions on strategic judgment: "At this stage, China's highest strategic requirement in India is not to complete the revolution, but to guide the revolution in the Indian region onto a path centered on developing productive forces. At this stage, even if East Asian land policies are not entirely applicable to the current Indian region, we must start somewhere.

"We will cooperate with advanced local revolutionary forces in India to complete the land revolution. Afterwards, through trade between India and the advanced industrial system, we can effectively and continuously drive India's social progress. Therefore, Chairman He believes that at this stage, we should bravely go deep among the Indian society. If we don't, not only will we fail to achieve our goals and solve India's problems, but we will also be misunderstood by the Indian people."

Hearing the phrase "misunderstood by the Indian people," Yu Cen subconsciously pressed his lips together tightly. The discipline and political nature of the Asian Allied Forces—or rather, the Chinese troops—were impeccable. They absolutely never infringed upon the Indian people, let alone acted high and mighty or bossy. Consequently, the "obedience" of the Indian people had left a deep impression on Yu Cen.

The obedience of Chinese people was the result of postnatal training, and this obedience was mostly directed towards a correct direction. If Yu Cen weren't a staunch materialist who had undergone systematic study in logic and psychology, he would have thought India's obedience was "innate."

He Rui had long emphasized to the troops marching into India: *never trust the promises of Indians*. Yu Cen had felt the importance of this instruction from He Rui's rare emphasis from the very beginning and had always paid close attention to it. But after actually making contact with Indians, Yu Cen was still shocked.

Corresponding to this laziness and unreliability was the Indians' "obedience." No matter what the Chinese said, the Indians would be "very obedient" on the surface, doing whatever they were told. But when things reached the stage where Indians were actually needed to complete tasks, their reaction was as if they were deliberately working against you, enough to make the Chinese National Defense Force furious. Fortunately, the Chinese National Defense Force had not relied on India and had avoided cooperation with Indians as much as possible, which prevented any disasters.

Recalling all this, Yu Cen sighed, "Did Chairman Li misunderstand the 'misunderstanding' of the Indian people?"

Although Li Runshi had never worked in India, he had seriously studied reports on India. When it came to a laziness that didn't even qualify as passive aggression, many regions in Southeast Asia were quite similar. Li Runshi explained, "Commander Yu, the core work of politics lies in the realms of institutions and interests. Faced with tangible interests, the eyes of the masses are sharp. Whether it is the Chinese people, the Southeast Asian people, or the Indian people, there will be no difference in this regard.

"If there is any difference, it is that Chinese civilization has after all developed to a certain height. This height allows China to understand that we shouldn't engage in empty talk. As long as we dare to truly face the distribution of people's interests, while inevitably triggering new contradictions, it is also possible to resolve old ones.

"At this stage, our troops must demonstrate our daring to struggle. Political work is to let the Indian people understand that even if the social status quo has remained unchanged for hundreds of years, we dare to challenge it, and we will break all shackles for the Indian people! A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained, and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another."

Hearing this, Yu Cen was quite shaken. He had originally thought Li Runshi was a scholarly leader, but he hadn't expected that profound academic grounding gave Li Runshi the courage and ability to face cruel reality.

But at this moment, Yu Cen didn't dare to completely trust Li Runshi either, so he replied, "Please arrange the work, Chairman Li."

***

While Li Runshi began to operate the revolutionary work in the independent regions of India, a small number of German experts remained in Sri Lanka for inspection, while the majority flew directly to Singapore. The discussion venue for this Grand Trial was not set within China, but in Singapore. In the liberated areas, there were various branch venues.

According to the arrangement of the Grand Trial, it was best to conduct the trial locally where the colonialists committed their crimes. The trial should ideally be public, and the executions after the trial should also be carried out in the places where those colonialists committed their crimes.

Any European scholar knew this was to kill people to establish authority. Supporters appreciated this quite a bit, while non-supporters felt this was a kind of revanchism. Of course, the non-supporters were legal experts after all; even if they criticized it in their hearts, they did not publicly oppose it.

Retaliation, revenge, has always been considered one of the traditional forms of justice in ancient human civilizations. As law has developed to the present, some in the legal community even call this behavior "self-help." Moreover, this trial was a judicial act; deciding whether those people were guilty or innocent relied not on emotion, but on legal judgment. If one truly did not support trying colonialists, one had to defend these people from a legal perspective, rather than using moral slogans like "opposing retaliation."

The head of the German delegation, President of the German Academy of Sciences Professor Karl, looked honest, but when facing Chinese government staff, he still spoke in somewhat broken Mandarin with a slight Northeast accent: "These German experts are going to Hanoi to inspect the legal construction of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam."

The Chinese government staff member opposite him had a strange expression, obviously holding something back. As for whether he was holding back unhappiness or laughter, Professor Karl pretended not to see. After all, these inspection applications included rural basic organizations, urban workers' lives and organizations, military reserve organizations, military training systems, intelligence systems, and political ideological education. No matter how one looked at it, these were far removed from law.

Fortunately, the Chinese government staff member seemed to have considerable work experience; he held it in and finally said, "I will report this up and see if it gets approved."

Having passed this first hurdle of reporting, Professor Karl returned to the residence and saw Reichenau and the German military personnel evaluating newly obtained clothes. Germany in March was still very cold, requiring thick coats. Singapore, however, was hot all year round. Although the German army had tropical combat uniforms, Reichenau was appearing as a legal scholar this time and had not brought a military uniform.

Walking over, he heard Reichenau praise, "This fiber is very suitable for the tropics. When we go back, we must give it to the research department to study its composition."

After saying this, he turned around. Professor Karl took Reichenau to the balcony of the residence. A tropical scene unfolded before their eyes; those unique tropical plants, as well as the different sky and clouds, made Professor Karl, who had come from Germany, feel happy. but Professor Karl's words were not so happy: "Is the Marshal really not worried about safety?"

Reichenau was very dismissive of such petty tricks and rolled his eyes at Professor Karl. He answered slowly, "Since the Chinese side is so confident, and He Rui is a true soldier, he inevitably hopes I will bring what I see back to Berlin."

Just as Reichenau expected, China naturally knew Reichenau's identity, so this application was sent directly to the Southern Bureau. Since Li Runshi had left first, the one presiding over the work of the Southern Bureau was Secretary-General Wu Hao. After reading the content of the application, Wu Hao smiled confidently: "Since the German Field Marshal is willing to cooperate with us, we naturally should cooperate with him a bit."

The comrade beside him didn't have the courage to shoulder such responsibility and reminded Wu Hao, "Secretary-General Wu, will letting German soldiers visit at will leak many of our secrets?"

"No matter how long they walk in Vietnam, they cannot possibly learn our secrets. Moreover, there are no secrets in state governance to begin with; only in the old society did so much deception exist. That kind of deception wasn't actually to fool foreigners, but to deceive one's own people."

After listening to Wu Hao's explanation, the comrade was still not very confident. Wu Hao knew what the comrade was worried about, so he replied, "I will send a telegram to the Chairman explaining my view. *In the time of Shun, the Youmiao were not submissive. Yu wanted to attack them. Shun said: 'No. To take up arms when one's virtue is not thick is against the Way.' He thus cultivated civil virtue for three years, and performed the dance of shields and battle-axes, and the Youmiao submitted.* Since Germany is so sincere and has sent such a high-ranking officer to inspect, let them look!"

Sure enough, Li Runshi wrote this passage into the report, and He Rui also replied quickly, "Agree with Comrade Wu Hao's arrangement."

With someone taking responsibility, Reichenau and the others soon took a plane and arrived at Hanoi Airport. Upon seeing the scale and arrangement of Hanoi Airport, the German military experts looked solemn. This airport was obviously designed and built by China, and the standard was very high. In German records, when France was allowed to make the Indochina region independent in 1940, they did not leave behind such excellent infrastructure. Now it was only early 1942; that China had completed such outstanding construction within three years was enough to prove that China, as stated in political propaganda, was providing massive infrastructure to former colonies to help them improve rapidly.

Reichenau looked at the Chinese officials who came to welcome them—two men and two women, all young people under 30. After the other party greeted them, Reichenau asked the male who looked like the leader, "I would like to inspect the operation of this airport."

The male official looked at a female official beside him who was not very tall. The female official had a round face and was very cute. She answered calmly, "Mr. Reichenau, you must first complete identity registration and obtain an identity certificate. No matter how much you want to visit and inspect immediately, you must complete these steps first."

Reichenau frowned again. His frequency of frowning in China was far higher than in Germany because many things in China were vastly different from Germany. For instance, there were female employees in the German government, but few female officials. If China hadn't sent a female ambassador after Hitler came to power, Reichenau would have suspected that China sending a female official to receive him was either deliberately looking down on him or playing a honey trap.

But the point raised by the female official surnamed Bai was unexpectedly proper, and Reichenau did not refuse. So, taking photos, making identity cards, and signing identity documents took a whole day. On the second day, Reichenau took his people straight to the airport.

This airport was built in a rather distant suburb. Reichenau only asked Deputy Director He Jiongming after arriving at the airport entrance, "It is safe here."

He Jiongming replied, "Our design thinking did indeed consider safety, but the biggest consideration was future development. The urban area of Hanoi will continue to expand; we can't have airport planes taking off and landing within the city."

Reichenau's expression remained unchanged, but he felt quite emotional inside. This kind of forward-looking consideration proved that China was very confident; if they lost the war, all of this would become empty talk.

Entering the airport, Reichenau began to ask questions. He learned that the land ownership of this airport belonged to the Vietnamese government, the airport ownership belonged to the Vietnamese Ministry of Transportation, and the airport operation belonged to Vietnam's Dai Viet Airlines. At this stage, Dai Viet Airlines had handed over the airport and route operations to a joint venture established by China Southern Airlines.

This ownership model seemed very reasonable to Reichenau, only it was currently impossible to determine how profits were distributed. Afterwards, Reichenau asked many more questions and learned that at this stage, the grassroots staff of Hanoi Airport had all undergone training in China, and Chinese personnel once accounted for 70% of the total.

As Vietnamese grassroots staff finished their training, and after more than a year of masters teaching apprentices, the proportion of Vietnamese among the grassroots personnel of the airport and the airline had reached more than 80%. It was estimated that in another year, the grassroots staff here would be entirely Vietnamese.

In technical positions, most Vietnamese personnel hadn't yet finished their studies and returned; less than 20% of Vietnamese personnel were working at the airport while learning from Chinese masters. However, within three years at most, the proportion of Vietnamese personnel in technical positions would reach half. The Chinese personnel remaining here to work would be increasingly concentrated in the core technical and management layers.

Reichenau held onto his status and didn't ask some questions. At this point, it was the turn of other German officers to ask. A lieutenant colonel raised a matter that other German officers were very concerned about: "According to what Mr. He said, after China handed over this airport to the Vietnamese government at the end of 1941, the corporate cooperation contract was signed for ten years. Then how does the Chinese enterprise protect its own interests?"

"The Chinese enterprise has not lost money in the cooperation," He Jiongming replied.

The German lieutenant colonel was stunned. A major beside him was young and aggressive, and asked a question the lieutenant colonel felt inconvenient to ask, "Did China provide training services to Vietnam just to meet the standard of not losing money?"

Reichenau felt He Jiongming probably wouldn't answer such a tricky question; cooperation between nations always required keeping a card up one's sleeve. Hanoi Airport was fully funded and built by China, constructed according to Chinese provincial capital standards—a huge investment and very advanced. If China just left after completing training, China would encounter various problems in recovering its costs.

He Jiongming's expression clearly showed he didn't take these concerns seriously. He replied naturally, "What we in China need is for Hanoi Airport to provide services for the Asian aviation industry. The higher the operational level and service quality of Hanoi Airport, the greater the contribution to the Asian aviation network. As for making money, the faster Hanoi Airport makes money, the faster it pays back. The risk of us recovering our investment cost becomes smaller."

These open and aboveboard words stunned the German officers. having been immersed in European culture since birth, the German officers hadn't expected He Jiongming to describe national cooperation so brightly, as if nations would naturally cooperate fully rather than deceive each other. For a moment, Reichenau didn't know what to say.

Since there was nothing to say, they continued the inspection. Walking a bit further, Reichenau saw a squad of soldiers protecting the airport patrolling the periphery. Those soldiers wore uniforms similar to the Chinese National Defense Force, only their figures were notably thinner. When patrolling, they looked spirited to the point of showing off a bit, somewhat similar to German recruits.

As an extremely excellent soldier, Reichenau could see quite a few things just by looking at the patrol of what should be Vietnamese soldiers. These Vietnamese troops must have undergone relatively systematic military training, but they had no combat experience. What Reichenau cared about most was that this group of former colonial Vietnamese soldiers actually possessed a military temperament. This feeling was hard to describe directly; one could only realize it after fighting many battles and seeing many armies—those soldiers truly realized in their hearts that they were soldiers different from civilians, and they had a sense of identity with their soldier status.

In Germany, in Europe, it was not surprising for soldiers to have this military temperament. But Reichenau hadn't expected to see soldiers with military temperament in Vietnam, which had only been liberated for a few years. German intelligence recorded that after Indochina was liberated, the original armies basically weren't absorbed into the new army. The current Vietnamese army was all newly formed in recent years, not an old-school army with historical accumulation.

The German lieutenant colonel asked, "I wonder where those Vietnamese troops received their training?"

"At this stage, after Vietnamese troops complete recruit training, they go to China to receive training," He Jiongming did not hide anything.

Reichenau felt the question of why the Vietnamese soldiers before him had military temperament was partially answered. Receiving military training inside China naturally meant Chinese officers acted as instructors at all levels. But thinking of this, Reichenau realized another problem. If China treated Vietnam as a vassal state, the trained Vietnamese troops would naturally show obedience to China and contempt for Vietnamese people, but the Vietnamese soldiers seen before him were obviously not like that. This squad of Vietnamese soldiers did not look superior when facing commoners. Instead, they looked more like purely native soldiers.

Continuing the tour with doubts, Reichenau noticed that the soldiers inside the airport not only had military temperament but were also very amiable towards their own people and did not show fear when facing obvious foreign travelers. This was not simple military temperament; it had reached the level of possessing military self-esteem.

At this time, the German lieutenant colonel asked again, "I wonder what kind of training these Vietnamese soldiers received in China?"

Reichenau waited somewhat seriously for He Jiongming's answer, but he didn't really believe a civilian official could say anything substantive. He heard He Jiongming reply, "I don't know the content of military training either. I only know that Vietnamese soldiers have received the same political education as the Chinese army. The people are water, the army is fish; without water, fish cannot survive. For every specific soldier, they are the sons and brothers of the people, so soldiers must defend the people."

Hearing this, Reichenau suddenly suspected that the Chinese youth under 30 before him might be a high-ranking political work cadre who had been engaged in various political propaganda works, which was why he could speak this passage so smoothly. If not for this, how could an ordinary reception official casually speak such fluid political philosophy?

Thinking that he was with a political commissar, although Reichenau didn't feel uneasy, he was somewhat unhappy. Afterwards, Reichenau and the German officers didn't continue asking questions. After seeing the airport and arriving at the conference room, when Reichenau communicated with the Vietnamese personnel, he discovered that He Jiongming actually couldn't speak Vietnamese. The translation was done by other personnel.

What the Vietnamese personnel said was not much different from what He Jiongming said, only their language organization ability was poor, and they spoke a bit incoherently. Obviously, they lacked experience in how to operate an important modern airport, to the point of being somewhat uneasy.

When the visit was over and they were riding back, Reichenau asked somewhat casually, "Mr. He, what is your official position now?"

"I am a consultant for the Ministry of Finance of Hanoi Province, responsible for financial work."

"Were you a political commissar before?"

Facing Reichenau's question, He Jiongming laughed: "Haha, I've never been a soldier, how could I become a political commissar?"

"Then where does your understanding of the army come from?"

He Jiongming answered somewhat puzzlingly, "We have received this kind of education since we were young, and every time there is a disaster in the country, the first to go to the disaster area for relief are the troops. This is our Chinese National Defense Force. Doesn't the German army know this?"

At this, the German soldiers all fell silent. They had indeed heard of these things, but they didn't really believe them. In Europe, the army pledged allegiance to and served the government, the emperor, the king. As for loyalty to the people, saying it was enough. Real European military men knew very well that one of the important tasks of the army was to suppress people's movements.

That the army was for protecting the people—this statement was actually somewhat inconceivable in European reality. It was only after the Nazis came to power that they began to promote this theory on a large scale. And that had only been for a few years!